Rationale For Blowing Up A South Korean Airliner in 1987

In her memoirs, Kim Hyun Hee recounted the rationale told to her by North Korea authorities on why she had to help blow up a South Korean airliner in 1987.

South Korea was said to be in considerable turmoil and the political climate was "more volatile than at any time since the War of Liberation." The constitution was also being revised, and elections were supposed to be held at the end of the year.

By destroying the plane, the North hoped to heighten the sense of chaos and hopefully prevent the Seoul Olympics (pictured) from being staged the following year.

"But that is just the beginning. If we succeed in preventing the Games from taking place, and if we succeed in worsening the political turmoil, there may well be the chance that our two Koreas could then be reunited. And that, as you know, is the great goal of our generation. If you comrades succeed in this mission, you will be nothing less than national heroes." (The Tears of My Soul, William Morrow and Company, 1993).

Even though flabbergasted, Kim admitted that "for a moment" she had not thought about the moral issues involved and the consequences of killing possibly hundreds of people. She saw the act as a "purely technical operation, a mere stepping stone toward the great goal of Korean reunification."

Best of all, Kim was promised that given the extreme secrecy and importance of the mission, this act of sabotage would be the last mission for her and her older male colleague Kim Seung Il. Apart from the concern that it would not be safe for them to continue working in the field of espionage any more, they would also have performed the highest possible service for their country. As heroes, they would have retired with every luxury the Party can provide. Kim (Hyun Hee) was also promised that she could return to her family.

Recalling her excitement at being able to reunite with her family, Kim recounted that at the time, she only had the "vaguest notion" as to how her mission would actually lead to Korean reunification.

"To this day I have a hard time understanding politics – I just took what he said at face value."

But the catch was, if the mission failed, the agents had to bite on liquid hydro-cyanic acid which was located in the filter of a cigarette. Once bitten, the cyanide will gasify and be absorbed into the bloodstream. Death is virtually instantaneous, so that the mission will be kept secret. "Remember that when you forfeit your physical lives, your political lives will continue for all eternity."

The elder Kim protested about the dangers of smuggling explosives in the midst of a war (Iran and Iraq were then at war), and argued that if things went wrong, it was not just a case of the agents getting into trouble, but "our whole nation will look ridiculous." But despite his protestations, the mission was nevertheless given the go-ahead.

The younger Kim said she was keen to complete the mission and return home, given how much she had missed her family, in particular her father.

"In many ways my father was an enigmatic man. I knew that he was proud of me and that as a Party official he was among the most privileged of North Koreans. But something told me that he resented the government dearly for taking me away. Love, unfortunately, was not part of Kim Jong Il's national agenda."